Completely fed up of my tiny kitchen. Any suggestions?

[EduCated]

Please indulge me in a Sunday afternoon whinge

My kitchen is really small and it's really getting annoying. I was going to treat myself to a wok the other day, then realised I just don't have anywhere to keep it, at least not without having to completely empty and re-pack the cupboard every time I want to get anything out. It looks like a disaster zone after every meal with the washing up taking up the whole side.

Is there anything I can do to make it a more useful space? Any suggestions for magic king up more space? It really doesn't help that I'm also having to keep the ironing board and mop/bucket in there as I don't have any cupboard space anywhere.

At the moment I've got a single and a double wall cupboard (mugs/glasses and food storage, respectively), a single lower cupboard with crockery/pans/Tupperware etc and the one under the sink which has all the cleaning stuff in, plus a mini wall cupboard with casserole dishes and baking stuff. How can I make better use of it all?

[SquidgersMummy]

We moved into a new house with only two wall cupboard - one with a boiler in it!! We did however have an under stairs cupboard so we got those shelves fm ikea where you can attach three of diff heights in a row. It's lovely!! Is there anywhere you can do that? X

[EduCated]

Not really, I'm the upstairs flat and storage is a problem throughout. Shelves might be the way to go but thanks to an, admittedly lovely, huge window, there's not really any empty wall space (plus it's a rented flat, so would have to clear it with the landlord).

[BelfastBloke]

Give up your living room and just create a large very comfortable kitchen with a sofa/comfy chairs in.

[EduCated]

Oh if only Have been seriously considering a freezer for the living room. Thought about getting a chest one and using it as a coffee table. But then I'd have nowhere to put the coffee table

This really is a self indulgent whinge

[Mindmaps]

How about a pole for hanging stuff ?

[MokuMoku]

How much of your stuff do you actually use? Can you clear some of it out?

[EduCated]

Pole could potentially work, though same issue with wall space, plus high ceilings.

Realistically I probably could clear some stuff, but in the main I don't own that much. Had another look just and think I could perhaps make more use of the space on top of the cupboards, though not sure what for as I wouldn't want to have to be climbing up and down all the time.

[starfishmummy]

I share your pain. Stuff has to go on top of cupboards here - the wok being one of them!

[PatchworkPerson]

Not ideal but when I had a tiny kitchen I used to keep all the baking trays and roasting stuff in the oven and all the microwave dishes stacked in the microwave. Yes it's a pain when you are using the appliance but they are neatly out of sight and not using up cupboard space the rest of the time. I also had a mug tree and hooks in the front of a shelf to hang pans on. Mop and bucket lived in the shower with the screen closed at all times and if I had visitors the ironing board went in there too! You have my sympathy OP.

[EduCated]

What prompted this morning's grump is thinking that I would really like a microwave, then realising that if I get one it will basically take up half the workspace.

I think a proper tidy up, and a ruthless sort out, may be in order. Especially as my family seem set on giving me kitchen based presents, like the six lovely but space wasting champagne flutes DAunt gave me... Bah!

Good idea on baking trays etc. Hadn't thought of that one. Trying to put the ironing board on top of the cupboards will only end badly though, won't it?

[DoItTooJulia]

What about some sort of cabinet for the living room where the posh glasses or stuff that you only use occasionally could go?

[Mintyy]

Is there really no space for the ironing board in a bedroom?

I would definitely hang your pans and wok from those hook things on a hanging bar above the cooker.

[Mindmaps]

If you have high ceilings I would work upwards get yourself one of those little kick stop library stools - the pole could possibly even go over the window - amazing what you can hang from butchers hooks

[Selks]

Ceiling pan rack? - <a class="break-all" href="http://www.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=beautifulkitchensblog.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/bk-ceiling-mounted-pan-rack-february-issue1.jpg&imgrefurl=beautifulkitchensblog.co.uk/2010/07/05/ceiling-mounted-pan-racks/&h=1212&w=818&sz=222&tbnid=A2pihI7lY7aNvM:&tbnh=90&tbnw=61&zoom=1&usg=__MoDiHr2VKgIAqtgcIKPGrzZoE5g=&docid=FU1hRb4G5xIsHM&sa=X&ei=3EBIUsnwGcKt7QaL8YDoBA&ved=0CGcQ9QEwAA" rel="nofollow noindex" target="_blank">such as this

[EduCated]

No to ironing board in bedroom, at least not without kicking it on a daily basis. It's a furnished flat, and was clearly furnished by someone who picked lovely big furniture, without any actual thought to how it would all fit in the room. The bedroom is also an arse, lots of lovely underbed storage, but limited on what I can put under there because it's so close to the wall on all sides.

Living room is pretty maxed out, recently bought a chest of drawers to use as a TV stand, which has helped enormously for bunging stuff in.

Don't think a hanging bar would work over the cooker (tiled walls, so a faff, plus weird little cupboard thing over it), but could work over the doorway perhaps. Plus I always like the look of hanging pans very Ikea-esque!

[EduCated]

Selks That looks like some kind of medieval torture implement! Not sure it would work without banging my head on it/having to duck, but will investigate

[NationMcKinley]

This isn't really what you've asked but I also have a tiny kitchen that I moaned about a lot. Until we did a house swap to one with a mahoosive kitchen. It drove me mad! You had to walk miles to do anything! It would be nice to have a bit more storage (family of 5) but I do like to be able to stand in one spot and pretty much reach everything from the sink to the fridge. We had to be a bit inventive and plumb the washing machine under the stairs and put shelves there too for tins / packets etc but on the whole it works well. My DB also has a tiny kitchen (typical of the area) - he's been ruthless with what he actually needs. Ikea is brilliant for small space solutions.

[EduCated]

True, I can cook an entire meal without having to move at all, though my and boyf trying to cook together did drive us both mad. We have a strict one person in the kitchen rule at all times now!

[travailtotravel]

I had a teeny tiny kitchen and took to getting more space out of the cupboards by using storage boxes in the cupboards. It just means that you don't have to unpack the whole cupboard to get to things, just take a box out and put it back in a box.

Worked for me, but I appreciate totally that might not work for everyone.

[EduCated]

Storage boxes might work on top of the cupboards though. I hadn't actually thought of that, and it would make it easier to get stuff down/store it neatly.

[BangOn]

we have the same problem & just purchased a welsh dresser for the dining room so all the plates/ bowls/ glasses can go in there to free up some cupboard space in the kitchen.

[UnicornsNotRiddenByGrownUps]

My kitchen is on the small side and I make space by using backs of doors so have magnetic strips for knives and intending on putting one in for herbs (ikea). Everything I use regularly is in identical clear plastic tubs and stacked to make use of vertical space. All my cupboards have an extra shelf put in too.

You have to be quite ruthless with what you keep. You really don't need many utensils. The only thing we have more than 1 or 2 of is wooden spoons.

[EduCated]

I think part of the problem is the flat is so small and is already pretty furnitured out making it almost impossible to decant stuff elsewhere, as each room has its own storage issues, if that makes sense.

I'm going to speak to the landlord and see how he feels about me putting some shelves up.

[TheAlphaandtheOmega]

We bought this microwave for our caravan because it was quite small


direct.asda.com/Daewoo-QT1---microwave-oven---freestanding---white/001560088,default,pd.html

[sleeplessbunny]

use the walls. our house is tiny and we hang stuff from the walls/ceiling wherever practical. Saucepans hanging up actually look rather nice IMO. How high are the ceilings? in our last house DH had his surfboard hanging from a couple of slings in the ceiling over the dining table. Looked rather cool I thought.

we also have the ikea magnetic strip for knives.